Residents Seeking To Repair Way Of Life

LAUDERDALE LAKES — It's been more than a week since she laid in her own bed and looked up at watermarks that, despite repeated coats of paint, lingered on her ceiling.

There hasn't been a day she hasn't cried since she was forced out of her home.

"I've been here 15 years. I want my life back," said Sharon Williams, 40. Although leaking roofs and ceiling crashes have plagued residents of Glen Cove Condominiums and Apartments for years, this is the first time they were forced to leave in such large numbers.

Nearly 500 people were evacuated June 1 after recent rains pounded the complex at Northwest 26th Street and State Road 7, drenching beds, carpets and clothing. That had happened before, and two or three families had quietly moved. This time, the doused electrical boxes and the threat of electrocution caused building and fire inspectors to order the large exodus.

Families, given only three days to find new homes, panicked. Some turned to relatives; others opted to stay at an American Red Cross shelter. Even now, with no money to hire moving vans and nowhere to move to, some residents wander the property until nightfall, then beg neighbors for a place to sleep.

Some said they knew a roof disaster would come. But none could predict the painful results -- finding new homes in a hurry, children unable to attend school, and the slap of uncertainty.

Gov. Jeb Bush last week wrote to the U.S. Small Business Administration asking that Broward County be declared a disaster area so low-interest loans can be offered to ousted residents.

Glen Cove, the once proud "neighborhood" that had deteriorated into an ongoing embarrassment for the city, had taken another turn for the worse.

So had Williams' peace of mind.

On June 1 she had arrived home late from her U.S. Post Office job expecting to kick off her shoes and greet the 30 teddy bears that crowd her living room couch. But her building was in darkness, bold red "unsafe" signs clung to apartment doors and Broward Sheriff's Office deputies stood guard.

"They just said I couldn't stay here. I didn't know where to go," Williams said one day later when residents were allowed to return to remove their belongings. "I was coming home to my privacy, but I was thrown out in the street."

A decade of disrepair

Esther Johnson still has the pool tags she used to use to gain entry into Glen Cove's pool area.

"I used to come home from work, put on my bathing suit and sit by the pool," recalled Johnson.

But that was more than a decade ago, when the pools were pools, not dirty holes in the ground.

Tired of the upkeep of her large North Lauderdale house, Johnson bought her three-bedroom Glen Cove unit in March 1984. She was impressed by the location and the amenities; the two Miami Dolphins players living there then added an extra dash of star quality.

"It was beautiful," she said.

Lawsuits and counter-suits embroiled Glen Cove in the 1990s.

After a series of bizarre events involving foreclosures, a lease-to-purchase period, and appointment of a receiver by a financial institution, real estate investor Richard Weit of Hallandale Beach ended up owning 138 of the 364 units, 48 in the condemned buildings.

The relationship between Weit, who rents the units, and the condominium board has been rocky. In 1993, the board sued Weit for nonpayment of $51,319 in fees.

Weit responded that the board had breached its fiduciary duty to owners and failed to maintain the property. Weit and property manager Michael Sims, hired in 1988, were also tangled in a lawsuit.

In a 1993 deposition, Weit's leasing manager, Pauline Gowdy, said after banks foreclosed on some Glen Cove units, they were sold "for little or nothing."

Lawsuit planned

After her home was condemned, Nelisha Freckleton, 72, a 14-year Glen Cove condominium owner, sought refuge at her daughter's Fort Lauderdale home.

Last week the displaced tenants formed a tenants association and say they plan to file a class-action suit. Freckleton is afraid new lawsuits at Glen Cove might end up costing the owners.

"When you own the unit, you fix it up, but there's nothing I could do about the roof. They asked for an assessment, and I paid every penny of it back in 1997," Freckleton said.

It is not known how many unit owners paid the $1,865 assessment. Earlier this year Sims said four of the complex's six buildings' roofs were repaired, and a loan was being negotiated to obtain money to complete the job.

Owners are demanding to hear from Sims, who most have not seen since the roofs caved in. They are also demanding an audit, especially since word got out that the condominium association's board might demand a new $1,200 roof assessment at Monday's annual owners meeting planned at the complex.

City response

Lauderdale Lakes Community Development Director Michael Matthias said Glen Cove depicts a classic "slumlord situation." He said the city has responded to every single code incident it has been aware of at Glen Cove.